Digging-machine.



C. G. VON POST.

DIGGING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, I9I5.

1 ,1 64,039, Patented Dec. 14, 1915.

COLUMBIA PLANOGEAPH CD" WASHWI, D. C.

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DIGGING-MACI-IINE.

7 To all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, can Gus'rar von Posr,subject of the King of Sweden, residing at 3 Blasieholmsgatan, tockholm,Sweden, have invented new and useful Improvements in Digging-Machines,of which the following is a specification.

For cultivating earth, there are at present in use engine-drivenimplements and machines the Operative members of which consist of forks,spades and thelike. In some of these machines, the said operativemembers obtain their motion from cranks on power-driven shafts in suchmanner, that the cranks support and guide the members at their lowerends, while the upper ends only of said members are guided by armsswinging around fixed points. Arrange ments are also known in which theoperative members of the digging machines are actuated by cranks oreccentrics, etc., at their 7 lower as well as at their upper ends, the

eccentrics then, however, engaging the member directly only at the upperend, while the motion is communicated to the lower end through leversof. a more or less complicated nature. In digging machines of thesetypes the following inconveniences haveoccurred. The movement ofthe'digging member is improper in that it gives the said member more orless of a scraping instead of a digging action, and in piercing theearth the member goes backward too much which causes great losses ofpower. If grass tufts, stones or other objects stick to the forksforming the digging members, they cannot 'be removed except by hand,which is a great inconvenience as itis desirable that the machine shouldneed only one person for its attendance. U

The present invention relates to a digging machine of the kind in whichthe digging member is actuated by a pair of cranks, eccentrics or thelike, each having a separate driving shaft, and in which a suitablemotion of the digging member, without the aforesaid drawbacks, iseffected by such an arrangement that the said member, at 1ts upper end,is actuated by. one crank dlrectly,

or by a link or the like, and at its lower end directly by the othercrank, the cranks being rotated with the same angular speed.

The invention also relates to a cleaning device, the cleaning members ofwhich have such a position as to remove clods, which 7 Specification ofLetters Patent. Patented DQQ, 111, 1915, Application as May 14, 1915.Serial No. 28,000.

may have stuck to the digging member, as the latter leaves the. earth,or afterward.

in the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 shows in a side view, partially insection, the parts of a digging machine necessary to illustrate theinvention. Fig. 2 shows one ,of the digging members from the rear side.F 1g. 3 1s a. plan view corresponding to Fig.

which carries a bearing 6 for the crank 3 and a guide bearing 7 for theend journal of a pitman 8 which connects the yoke 5 to the crank 4e.

9 is the shank of either digging member 10 which consists of a fork, seeFig. 2. The said shank 9 is movable in guides in the yoke 5. V 7 i1 is acompression spring surrounding the shank and resting, at one end,against the upperpart of the yoke 5 andat the other against a flange 18,adjustable along the shank by means of a nut. The said spring thus has atendency to keep the fork 10 in its extreme position with relation tothe yoke 5.

I9 is a second spring arranged on the shank 9 and resting against thelower portion of theyoke and against the aforesaid nut so as to absorbthe shock from the adjusting nut when the fork 10, after being pressedinto the yoke, for instance by hitting a stone, is forced outward againby the spring 11.

12 is a protecting sleeve surrounding the springs 11, 19, the shank 9and cooperating parts so as to prevent earth, etc., from enteringthereinto.

13 are cleaning members secured to the frame A, the arrangement andshape of said members being adapted to the nature of the digging member.In the form shown, the cleaning members consist of pins 13 which are socurved and positioned relative to the path of the fork as to penetratebetween the claws thereof during the upward movement of said fork, andthus remove stones and the like during its return movement.

The shafts 1 and 2 may be driven in any thev following manner. Duringthe slmul- .taneous rotation of the cranks 3, at in the;

direction of the arrows the point of the fork 10 is moved in the pathmarked by =5 the dash and dotted line a bca While the upper part of thefork is moved in a 'pathmarked by the line d ef-d. From the drawing itis seen that the fork strikes the earth surface substantially in avertical 2o directionand then is successively inclined by the action ofthe upper crank t so as to be almost horizontal in its final position.Meanwhile the different portions of the claws more, as stated, along thelines L35 ab'c and Z..e-f. The cleaning pins 13 which are curved along acirculararc are preferably so arranged as to enter between the claws ofthe fork at their upper portion, so as not to move the clod on the fork.

30 When the latter is returned from its extreme right position to thesubstantially vertical initial position, the two portions thereof abovereferred to move along the lines -a and f-(Z, thus in quite other 3paths than before. During the movement,

the pins 13 clean the fork on its whole length. The returning to theinitial position takes place very rapidly. The pins 13, v as they cleanthe claws of the fork, also "40 facilitate the overturning of the clod,be-

cause as the latter during the movement comes opposite the pins 13 thesewill prevent it from falling back again toward the machine. If this werenot prevented, the clod would be displaced. and might be overturnedduring the next digging operation.

If the fork in piercing the earth hits a hard object for instance astone, its move ment is checked and the spring 11 com- I be pressed. Theguide yoke 0, however, ob-

viously continues its motion unaffected under the action of the crank 3and pitman 8, which has proved necessary for obtaining an even orhomogenous work.

The path in which the fork is moved obviously depends: upon the mutualposition and distance between the shafts 1 and 2 and on the lengths andmutual angular positions of the cranks 3 and at. The said path there- 6fore can be adjusted in a suitable manner 6 tooloperated by hand, andthus the digging operation requires the smallest possible power, whichis of great importance for the" econom cal use of the machlne.

The motion of'the digging member is effected by means of the yoke 5, theupper. portion of which is actuated by the crank at by means of thepitman or link 8, while the lower portion is directly actuated by thecrank 3. The link 8, however, can be' left out, so that also'the cranktwill directly actuate the yoke.' Such a form is shown inFig; 4. Oneoffthe crank pins (the upper one inthe idrawing) then is provided with aguide'head which is slidably mounted in. a longitudinal groove 20 in theyoke 5-, whereby a slotted link 'con-' Having n'ow particularlydescribed the nature of my invention and the manner of its operation,what I claim is:

1. In a digging machine, a fork-like digging-member, two power-actuatedcrank devices operating said member, thereby imparting thereto areciprocating movement in a curved path, and a comb-like cleaning deviceso arranged relatively to the path of the digging member that the teethof the comb-like cleaning device at the beginning of the ret'ractivemovement of the digging member, will be engagement with the claws of thelatter at the base thereof.

2. In a digging machine, a fork-like digging-'n ieinbe'r, twopower-actuated crank devices operating said member, thereby impartingthereto a reciprocating movement in acurved path, a comb-like cleaningdevice soar-ranged relatively to the path of the dig- 'ging member thatthe teeth ofthe comb-like cleaning device at the beginning oftheretractive movement of the digging member,

will be in engagement with the claws of the latter atthe base thereof,whereby not to' remove the clod from the fork-like digging member,continued movement of said digging member to its initialposition'causing forcing said digging member toan engaging position andmeans acting beneath said last-mentioned spring means to cushion theimpact of the digging member and to absorb shocks during the operativemovethereof. a

3. In a digging machine, a frame, curved cleaning members rigidlysecured to and depending from the frame, a pair of power shafts suitablydriven, said shafts being supported upon the frame and provided withcranks arranged to rotate at the same angular speed, a yoke supported inan inclined position upon the frame, a fork-like digging member having ashank portion slidable in the yoke, said cranks having connection withthe yoke and means cooperative with the shank of the digging member toforce the latter into engaging position, said digging member durmg theoperation thereof by the cranks taking a downward path while extendingin a vertical direction and moving upwardly to gradually assume asubstantially. horizontal position with the cleaning members passingbetween the tines thereof at their upper portions to prevent removal ofthe clod from the digging member, and to return in a downward and upwardcurved path to again assume a vertical position with the cleaningmembers traversing the length of the tines thereof whereby to remove theclod therefrom prior to the next digging operation.

4. A digging machine, comprising a supporting frame, a pair of powershafts supported upon the frame and having cranks suitably rotated atthe same angular speed, a yoke for each pair of cranks ofrthe respectiveshafts, pitman connecting the upper-- most of the cranks to therespective yokes near the upper ends of the latter, the other cranksbeing situated beneath the aforesaid cranks and being connected to thelower portions of the respective yokes, digging memlers having shankportions longitudinally slidable in the respective yokes between theupper and lower portions of the latter, springs mounted on the shanksbetween the upper ends of the yokes and the lower portions thereof,adjustable stop members mounted on the shanks and engaged by the lowerends of said springs for adjusting the tension of the latter, cushioningsprings mounted between said stops and the lower portions of the yokesto absorb shocks by the impact of said stop member thereagainst underthe action of the aforesaid spring, and

a protecting sleeve surrounding said springs and shanks between theportions of said yokes.

5. A digging machine, comprising a supporting frame, a pair of powershafts supported from the frame and having cranks suitably rotated atthe same angular speed, a yoke for each pair of cranks of the respective shafts, pitman connecting the uppermost of the cranks to therespective yokes near the upper ends of the latter, the other cranksbeing situated beneath the aforesaid cranks and being connected to thelower portions of the respective yokes, digging members having shankportions longitudinally slidable in the respective yokes between theupper and lower portions of the latter, springs mounted on the shanksbetween the upper ends of the yokes and the lower portions thereof,adjustable stop members mounted on the shanks and engaged by the lowerends of said springs for adjusting the tension of the latter, cushioningsprings mounted between said stops and the lower portions of the yokesto absorb shocks by the impact of said stop member thereagainst underthe action of the aforesaid spring, said digging members havingfork-like portions adapted to be disposed in substantially verticalpositions prior to the penetration of the earth and to move in adownward and upward arcuate path whereby to assume substantiallyhorizontal position and to return in an independent arc above the arcconstituting the operative path of the digging member, to again assumesaid substantially vertical position, and cleaning members cooperatingwith the digging members to pass between the forks thereof near theirbight portions during the latter portion of the operative movement ofthe digging member and to traverse the path of the claws thereof duringthe return movements of the digging members as aforesaid.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CARL GUST. VON POST.

Witnesses:

H. HAMMAR, ADA SIMON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G.

